Medical malpractice is a serious issue in the United States, ranking as the third leading cause of death, just behind heart disease and cancer. According to a recent study by Johns Hopkins, more than 250,000 people die each year due to medical errors. Some reports even suggest that the number could be as high as 440,000. These alarming statistics highlight the need for better safety measures in healthcare to prevent such tragic outcomes.
Common types of medical errors
Medical errors can occur in various forms, each contributing significantly to the overall number of deaths and injuries. Here are the most common errors:
- Misdiagnosis or delayed diagnosis: Misdiagnosis affects approximately 12 million adults in the U.S. each year, which is about 5% of adults seeking outpatient care. It leads to approximately 371,000 deaths annually in the U.S.
- Surgical errors: Surgical errors, including wrong-site, wrong-procedure, and wrong-patient surgeries, occur in about 1 in 112,000 surgical procedures and result in about 4,000 deaths each year.
- Medication errors: Medication errors affect around 1.5 million people annually in the U.S., with the FDA receiving over 100,000 reports of suspected medication errors yearly. Medication errors cause between 7,000 and 9,000 deaths annually.
- Birth injuries: Birth injuries occur in approximately 6 to 8 out of every 1,000 live births in the U.S., with many resulting from preventable medical errors. Birth injuries contribute to a significant number of infant deaths, with more than 20,500 infants dying annually in the U.S. from various causes, including birth injuries.
- Failure to treat: Failure to treat, which includes not providing timely or appropriate care, is a significant issue, though exact numbers are harder to pinpoint. It is estimated that diagnostic errors, which include failure to treat, contribute to 10% of patient deaths.
Medical malpractice is a critical issue that needs more attention and better preventive measures. Advocates are pushing for stronger patient safety legislation by introducing bills like the Nurse Staffing Standards for Hospital Patient Safety and Quality Care Act, which aims to establish minimum nurse-to-patient ratios and provide whistle-blower protections. These efforts aim to address the crisis of unsafe staffing levels in hospitals.
Filing a medical malpractice lawsuit
Victims and families have the right to seek justice even if the laws change. Filing a medical malpractice lawsuit can help you receive compensation for the harm caused. The process typically involves consulting with a medical malpractice attorney, gathering medical records and evidence, and formally filing a complaint. In Connecticut, the statute of limitations for medical malpractice requires that a lawsuit be filed within two years from the date when the injury is first sustained or discovered or should have been discovered with reasonable care.
